News
Kategorien: News (english) 
News vom 23.03.2006
IGB Automation GmbH
IBG is currently developing a solution for the automobile industry to automatically mount wheels onto continuously moving car bodies.
Fully Automatic Wheel Fitting in Cycle and Continuous Operation (PAT applied)
IBG is currently developing a solution for the automobile industry to automatically mount wheels onto continuously moving car bodies.
This new assembly unit allows automatic mounting and exact fitting of wheels in cy-cle and continuous operation. It rationalises the manufacturing process taking into account quality and cost optimisation factors and eliminates error sources.
The basic idea is to synchronise conveying technology and robots.
Our aim is to develop a highly precise assembly system which easily and quickly translates pre-programmed robot movements into a continuously moving assembly process taking into account standard components.
The system is highly flexible and can be used for the most varied vehicle and wheel types.
Due to high availability and precision demands, currently manual assembly methods are being used to mount wheels onto car bodies in continuous operation – a process that is highly cost-intensive, in particular as several assembly workers are required to carry it out.
IBG’s innovative concept will make this process fully automatic in the future. At the same time quality will improve as assembly errors can be excluded.
Specially developed software combines a robot equipped with 6 axes, a screwing and assembly unit and a three-dimensional image processing system in an auto-mated, process-safe wheel assembly process with a cycle time of one minute.
An image processing system equipped with 2 cameras per each wheel captures the position of the wheel acceptance devices and their hole patterns at the vehicle pass-ing by the assembly station. In a fraction of seconds the space coordinates are de-termined and communicated to the robot control system as correction values in a highly precise and 3-dimensional way.
The continuous movement of the vehicle is determined by a virtual 7th axis. A soft-ware programme synchronises the movements of the tool centre point of the robot and the transfer technology.
An additionally-mounted laser distance sensor, that communicates height correction values to the robot, continuously balances unavoidable suspension or steel construc-tion inaccuracies.
The robot takes over the wheels from a centring station at the end of a feeding path.
The wheel rim is grabbed at the centre and at the same time position tolerances, un-avoidable due to the construction of the grippers, are balanced.
Screw drivers to tighten the wheel screws are mounted at the rotatable swivelling as-sembly head.
In addition a pushing sleeve is integrated into the head which pushes the wheel rim up during the screwing process. The favourable distribution of forces thus guarantees gentle wheel mounting.
The gripper head approaching the brake disc is designed to process common brake disc types.
Tyre inaccuracies and different wheel rim types no longer pose a problem to the posi-tioning process and the outer shape of the wheel is of no importance either.
The wheel can now be placed onto the axis pre-mounted onto the vehicle independ-ent of differing steering turnings, rotating angles and cambers of wheel.
Contact:
IBG Automation GmbH, D-Neuenrade, Phone: (+49) 02392/96 89 0
e-mail: ibg-automation @ goeke-group.de
Website: www.goeke-group.com
PDF: 